Turning Blog Content into a Book

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Bloggers make great candidates for book writers. They already have a wealth of content to draw from, know who their audience is, and more often than not, already have a platform. So for bloggers who have built a loyal following in their industry, a book may be the next logical step.

If you are a blog writer, you may find yourself wondering how to turn all that blog content into a book. It’s likely to be easier than you think. You just need to know how to take the content you have and mine it. For most writers, the hard part is getting down what they want to say. You’ve already done that, so you are well ahead of other potential authors and well on your way to the production of a real manuscript.

Some best practices to keep in mind when you’re thinking of transforming your blog into a book are—

  • Hone your topic
  • Create an outline
  • Turn your blog readers into book readers

What’s your angle?

As a blogger, you likely have a great deal of content that’s roughly about the same subject. In order to turn this content into a book, you need to hone in on a strong core message that provides value for your readers and then look for the blog posts that will support that idea.

You should decide what value you are going to be providing to your readers. Ask yourself what content you’ve written that has been most well received by your audience. Is there a certain topic that you get the most questions about? Are there certain posts that get the most hits? The subject matter for your book should be unique and what you feel passionate about, and it should provide actionable advice to your readers. Hone in on your topic as specifically as possible and provide a promise to your audience that they will be excited about.

Put the puzzle together

After you’ve decided on your topic, create a detailed outline. (This is a very important part of the book writing process and one that is often skipped. Don’t. It will serve you well.) The more detailed your outline is, the better. You can develop your ideas for what should go in each chapter by referencing the blog content that is appropriate for your book. Look for the patterns. Decide what each chapter will be about, and then decide what topics you will cover in each chapter.

After you’ve completed your outline, it’s time to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Fit your blog posts into the chapters and under the headings where they fit. You may find that you are missing some important information here and there. Fill in the gaps and smooth it over. It’s a book, after all, not a blog, and it should read like a cohesive piece from beginning to end. Proper introductions, transitions, and conclusions will help smooth your prose together and give your content the structural change from blog to book that it needs.

Use the audience you already have

Your existing audience can be an incredible resource throughout the book-writing process. Not only can you use it to test out the new content you need to create for your book, but as you are writing, you can tease the book on your blog. You’ll be creating interest and converting your blog readers into book buyers before you are even published.